Alaska Days with John Muir: 4 Books in One Volume: Illustrated: Travels in Alaska, The Cruise of the Corwin, Stickeen and Alaska Days

by John Muir

John Muir made four trips to Alaska, as far as Unalaska and Barrow. Muir, Mr. Young and a group of Native American Guides first traveled to Alaska in 1879 and were the first Euro-Americans to explore Glacier Bay. Muir Glacier was later named after him. He traveled into British Columbia a third of the way up the Stikine River, likening its Grand Canyon to "a Yosemite that was a hundred miles long". Muir recorded over 300 glaciers along the river's course. He returned for further explorations in southeast Alaska in 1880 and in 1881 was with the party that landed on Wrangel Island on the USS Corwin and claimed that island for the United States. He documented this experience in journal entries and newspaper articles—later compiled and edited into his book The Cruise of the Corwin. In 1888 after seven years of managing the Strentzel fruit ranch in Alhambra Valley, California, his health began to suffer. He returned to the hills to recover, climbing Mount Rainier in Washington and writing Ascent of Mount Rainier. Travels in Alaska The Cruise of the Corwin The Story of a Dog Alaska Days With John Muir by Samuel Hall Young

499 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 22, 2019

About the author

John Muir was far more than a naturalist; he was a secular prophet who translated the rugged language of the wilderness into a spiritual calling that saved the American soul from total surrender to materialism. Born in 1838 in the coastal town of Dunbar, Scotland, Muir’s childhood was a blend of seaside wanderings and a brutal religious upbringing. His father, Daniel Muir, was a man of uncompromising faith who forced John to memorize the New Testament and most of the Old Testament by age eleven. When the family immigrated to the frontier of Wisconsin in 1849, this iron-fisted discipline continued on their farm. However, for the young Muir, the "Book of Nature" began to rival the Bible. He saw the divine not just in scripture, but in the black locust trees and the sun-drenched meadows of the midwest.
The pivotal moment of Muir’s life occurred in 1867 while working at a wagon wheel factory in Indianapolis. A tool slipped, piercing his cornea and leaving him temporarily blind in both eyes. Confined to a darkened room for six weeks, Muir faced the terrifying prospect of a life without light. When his sight miraculously returned, he emerged with a clarity of purpose that would change the course of American history. He famously wrote, "This affliction has driven me to the sweet fields. God has to nearly kill us sometimes, to teach us lessons." He immediately set out on a 1,000-mile walk to the Gulf of Mexico, beginning a lifelong odyssey of exploration.
Muir eventually found his "true home" in California’s Sierra Nevada. To Muir, the mountains were not mere piles of rock, but "the range of light." He spent years as a shepherd and guide in Yosemite, living a life of extreme simplicity—often traveling with nothing but a tin cup, a crust of bread, and a volume of Emerson’s essays. His scientific contributions were equally profound; he defied the leading geologists of the day by proving that the Yosemite Valley was carved by ancient glaciers. While the state geologist, Josiah Whitney, dismissed him as a mere "shepherd," the world’s leading glaciologists eventually recognized Muir’s genius.
His transition from explorer to activist was born of necessity. Seeing the "hoofed locusts"—domestic sheep—devouring the high mountain meadows, Muir took up his pen. His landmark articles in The Century Magazine and his 1903 camping trip with President Theodore Roosevelt became the catalysts for the modern conservation movement. Under the stars at Glacier Point, Muir convinced the President that the wilderness required federal protection. This meeting laid the groundwork for the expansion of the National Park system and the eventual return of Yosemite Valley to federal control.
As the co-founder and first president of the Sierra Club, Muir spent his final years in a fierce philosophical battle with Gifford Pinchot. While Pinchot argued for "conservation" (the sustainable use of resources), Muir championed "preservation" (the protection of nature for its own sake). Though he lost the battle to save the Hetch Hetchy Valley from being dammed, the heartbreak of that loss galvanized the American public, ensuring that future "cathedrals of nature" would remain inviolate. John Muir died in 1914, but his voice remains ubiquitous, reminding us that "into the woods we go, to lose our minds and find our souls."

Reviews

[Agnieszka · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first three books are written by John Muir in descending order of page # the last one written by Samuel Hall Young an evangelist and Muir's main companion in Alaska.
The average rating would be 4.25 stars though only because of the second book in this collection. Because even there Muir's parts were great (content & style) I stick to my gut feeling and rate the entire book set 5 star (basically disregarding the poor quality of The Cruise of the Corwin).

The page number of the total seems way too low (or the original book pages were huge, larger than letter format printed in tiny letters) - approximately every two to three Kindle pages in the app for desktop PC or iPad had a new page #
- beautiful, very poetic and visual descriptions; witty writting style full of dry humor
- language: old English with some Scottish influences, very elaborate with many geological & botanical expressions (only suitable for very advanced language students, willing to put a lot of work into reading)
- very dated basic views on Native Americans, at the beginning verging on disparaging - though put into perspective by his observations
- strongly Christian scientific worldview apparent all through the books
- author's main focus are glaciers (their froms, formation, development, implications on local environment and development of surrounding landscapes - subject of earth-sculpture and landscape-making. (p. 168))

#1 Travels in Alaska read: 6/10-21/21; 4.5*
195 pages, set in the summers/early autums of 1879, 1880 & 1890

#2 The Cruise of the Corwin: Journal of the Arctic Expedition of 1881 in Search of de Long and the Jeannette read: 6/7-7/4/21; 2.5*
188 pages, set in 1881
I didn't like his one very much. This book is not written in the usual style of the author but is a combination of several sources combined into one work. As the introduction explained it's mainly based on a report to a government board (which due to some petty jealousy was set so poorly it's difficult to read - the author got no right to proof read it before publication) interspersed with journal entries, letters or newspeper articles from other members of the search party (now I understand the usual title of this book: The Cruise of the Corwin: Journal of the Arctic Expedition of 1881 in Search of de Long and the Jeannette which is very fitting). The parts which the author submitted to a Californian newpeper were in his usual style I so enjoyed from the previous two books I read in this book set and showed why I liked them so much - unfortunatelly most of the other parts are very difficult to read and the reason I rarely enjoy classics/old English books. The appendices will only be enjoyed by scientists or hard-core knowledge junkies.

#3 Stickeen: Story of a Dog read: 6/15/21; 5*
19 pages, set 8/20/1880 - a shorter account is described at the end of chapter 15 in Travels in Alaska
such a cute creature; account of a dangerous adventure

#4 Alaska Days with John Muir by Samuel Hall Young read: 7/12-13/21; 5*
97 pages
WOW! I loved the author's witty style and learning a few more facts about John Muir, their travels and Samuel Young's work. If it were not for the God-like worship that seems to be Young's POV regarding Muir this book would've been perfect.
This books describes some episodes of Muir's first two Alaska travels (1879 & 1880) which Young accompanied as well as their (few) later encounters. I was so happy to find a map of their travels - though it would've been more helpful if it were much earlier in book or at least a reference to it (with a link) at the very beginning of this collection.